Stormy Saturday Afternoon

I feel a little like I'm just waking up from a long and restless nap, but I'm much much better today. Torrential rain all afternoon, which Hedgehog and I braved to keep a luncheon date with some dear friends of ours. It's always so much easier when the girls and the mamas get along. I find it very congenial when we all hang out together. I ate a delicious hot squash soup with tarragon, which tasted like the very essence of getting better after a long illness.

Late this afternoon, with the wind and rain howling outside, I got out my dear violin. She is much beloved, with a strong true tone. I've had her since I was twelve:



I played a bit on my own, then Sgt. Pepper got out his guitar and joined me for a little hootenanny. Hedgehog played the buttons (as in, she rhythmically clicked two buttons together in time to our music; actually sounded pretty cool) and we all sang. I can't possibly explain how I feel when I play my violin--she's one of my oldest friends, and I just love her so. Her familiar heft, her lovely sound. We took some requests from E. ("Dirty Old Town," "Scarlet Begonias," "Lullaby of London") and then moved on to some of our favorite Irish music:





What a wonderful afternoon.

Now, having been tagged by Cecile to list Seven Things about Myself, here you go:

1. I got my driver's license just a few years ago (I'm 38). But I've become a really good driver, and drive all over Brooklyn and Manhattan, midtown, the streets and expressways, like a pro. I think of myself as a taxi driver who doesn't make you carsick. Even Sarge doesn't like to drive in the city, but I'm kinda ballsy like that.

2. I've played violin since I was five. Some of my earliest memories are of playing.

3. I'm Jewish and I majored in religion in college, but I specialized in formative Christianity. I'd never even read the Christian bible before that, and I got very interested in the Apostolic Age. I minored in Ancient Greek.

4. I am a Rabbinical School drop-out. Yes, I was studying to be a Rabbi, but switched tracks to criminal justice. Hmm.

5. My first love was thirty years older than I. I was a freshman in college. He was a pretty well-known rock journalist. He totally stomped on my heart. But he made me amazing mixed tapes.

6. I have a rather useless Masters Degree in Forensic Psychology. My favorite class was "Introduction to the Rorschach," where we learned to read the famous inkblot test and even practice on people we knew, then write up evaluations of their psyches. Totally presumptuous and not so useful. SO MUCH FUN.

7. After some peripatetic years (college, Israel, Texas, Queens) I've settled in the neighborhood of my childhood. I feel a deep connection to it, and have no real desire to leave. I'd even live in my childhood home if I could. You know the small-town girl who breaks away? I don't want to be her.

That's it--a little bit of me.